OpTic Gaming were a step ahead in the meta when they won Masters Reykjavik 2022. Their decision to use Neon on Fracture, and to select Chamber instead of Jett on Bind, Icebox, Haven, and Split helped them win their first Masters trophy.
However, it seems that the meta has shifted as most teams have focused on becoming less predictable.
In an exclusive interview with ONE Esports, OpTic Gaming’s Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen said that teams are more focused on countering each other than ever at Masters Copenhagen.
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OpTic Gaming Marved says there isn’t really a meta at Masters Copenhagen
After losing to Guild Esports in their opening group stage match at Masters Copenhagen, Marved said that most of the strategies teams are using bear a resemblance to those at the previous Masters event.
“Other than the release of Fade, it’s pretty similar,” he said. “It’s up to your team if you wanna run Fade or not. It’s just another agent you have to get accustomed to.”
The 22-year-old mentioned that teams are more concerned about their counterstrategies compared to picking the best agent compositions.
“People nowadays just change comps, so they don’t get read by the other team, in my opinion,” he said. “There’s not really a meta. It’s just countering other teams and changing your comps to be very random.”
According to Marved, the biggest change he’s seen is that teams have more than one agent comp in some maps at the tournament. But, aside from that, he believes the agents that were good back then are still performing well now.
“It just depends on how you want to use them,” he said.
OpTic themselves made some unexpected changes in their first Masters Copenhagen match. In their Masters Reykjavik 2022 and VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers run, they always selected Breach and Neon on Split. However, OpTic decided to go with Fade and Raze on Split instead, when they went up against Guild Esports.
DRX are another team that expanded their agent comps at Masters Copenhagen. Instead of running their undefeated triple initiator comp on Ascent in VCT Korea Stage 2 Challengers, DRX decided to change their lineup. They swapped out Sova for Jett, Chamber for Killjoy, and Omen for Astra.
With a spot at Valorant Champions Istanbul on the line, teams are pulling out all the stops in order to get any type of advantage against their opponents at Masters Copenhagen.
READ MORE: XERXIA’s clever Killjoy setup on Ascent guarantees you wallbang kills at B Main
